participant-3927, 10:39 PM, April 21
I’m working on an article that references people who didn’t accept the status quo.
participant-3927, 10:40 PM, April 21
One of such men is Thomas Sowell, who had at one point of his life no money to take subway, and walked by foot from Brooklyn to Harlem
participant-4603, 12:56 AM, April 23
I saw a thread on Twitter about him how he was at one point in his life a Marxist but it was when he started working for I believe it was the Department of Labor he realized how their policies increase unemployment
participant-4603, 12:57 AM, April 23
Not sure if any of that is correct, but for sure I do know that his lines of reasoning in support of eliminating the minimum wage are sound
participant-3927, 5:00 AM, April 24
it’s good, I didn’t know about him.
participant-3927, 5:02 AM, April 24
I’m not into all this layer 2 stuff, btw. I advocate for a standalone new country, with its own borders, its own military, its own legal system that’s enforced by police. National state, yes. But the nationality in terms stuff that matters – respect to the political system, that’s all that unites the people. Also, this country will have open borders and no visa requirements to work. So anyone can just move in, and become a member of the country. Not a citizen , so he can’t vote, but he can work and enjoy life.
participant-2236, 9:42 AM, April 24
I notice a weird optical illusion. When I quickly glance over the chat names in my Telegram, my eye at first thinks that I’m reading the word “Antisemitism”, and I have to slowdown and squint, to read it as Anthemism. This is amusing. The effect is much less in Russian “Антемизм” (although it’s a bit there too).
participant-3927, 1:20 PM, April 24
I noticed that too
participant-3927, 5:59 PM, April 25
Theres is a party in USA, the American Capitalist Party.
http://theamericancapitalistparty.com/ . It was started by Mark Pellegrino, the guy who played “Jacob” in the “Lost” TV series. Mark became an Objectivist, after reading Ayn Rand in his twenties.
participant-3927, 6:32 PM, April 25
If someone can come with a better name, I am all ears. The criteria is to have a dense word, similar to Zionism. Zionism meant, in one word (a) it’s about Jews, (b) it’s about mountain Zion located in palestine, (c) it’s secular (not using the word ‘judaism’), (d) it’s about society laws (do not kill, do not steal), the 10 commandmens received on mount Zion, (e) it’s about starting a new country, (f) it enabled non-Jews to support the cause (Herzl’s right hand was a Christian priest from UK who thought that according to the Bible, Jews must have a state in Israel).
So, I picked “Anthemism” because (a) Anthem is a novel by Ayn Rand, reflecting the Objectivist philosophy and laissez-faire Capitalism advocated by it (b) it’s a new country, because in Anthem the protagonist leaves the dystopian society to start anew, (c) it’s not Objectivism, so other libertarians et. al. can support the cause, if they think this country will suit them better than any other, (d) anthem is symbolic word, representing a nation and maybe rebellion from oppression.
A competing project by Objectivists with the same goal was named the “Thomas Paine Institute,” because it was Thomas Paine who argued that it’s possible to “start the world over again” when founding America.
participant-3927, 6:37 PM, April 25
Now, when I was thinking about the name, I was thinking of using some character from Atlas Shrugged, or from Ayn Rand’s other novells. (Spoilers ALERT!). It can’t be Galt, because Galt’s Gulch was not a prototype for a country. The closest I found is Hugh Akston, the professor who chose to quit the academia to sell sandwiches. Another character was Kira (from “We the Living”) who refused to assimilate in USSR. Later, after I picked Anthemism, I saw in some youtube comment the expression of “going Anthem,” meaning, it is time to quit trying to reform the country and start from scratch.
participant-3927, 6:44 PM, April 25
In the beginning, saying Anthemism was awkward, but overtime it became easier and more natural. I recall the same thing with my cat’s name. I got her at 9 months from a hospital, which assigns stray cats default names by alphabet. So I wanted to find a new name for her, and after two weeks of deliberations, with the help of my son, came up with Chica. (It had to be a name for a female cat that works both in English and Russian). In the beginning it felt awkward to call her by that name, because she doesn’t understand that she has a name anyway, and the name is a prop for me, really. But now I got used it, and I think she responds to it. Nothing seems more natural than to see her and think “Chica.”
participant-3927, 7:11 PM, April 25
There is also a 2019 video game “Anthem” published by Electronic Arts. From wikipedia: “The game’s title refers to the Anthem of Creation, a powerful and mysterious force responsible for most of the extraordinary technology, phenomena, and threats in the world. In the main narrative, the player’s Freelancer is tasked with stopping the villainous Monitor from seizing control of the Anthem.”
participant-3927, 7:19 PM, April 25
Another play on the word, instead of an -ism, can be “The Anthem Initiative,” or “The Anthem Project,” etc.
participant-3927, 7:27 PM, April 25
Here’s what ChatGPT has to say to my question if Anthemism is a good way to model after Ayn Rand’s novelette “Anthem”:
Exactly — and that gives Anthemism real philosophical weight. Rand’s Anthem isn’t just a name — it’s a symbolic declaration of individualism reborn in a collectivist wasteland. So using Anthemism ties your movement directly to:
🧠 Rand’s core narrative of rediscovery of the self (“I”),
📘 A canonical Objectivist text, arguably even more emotionally potent than Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead for some readers,
🎶 The broader meaning of “anthem” as a song of defiance, identity, and idealism.
So if your movement is about turning the vision of Rand’s Anthem into a real-world foundation, then Anthemism is not just appropriate — it’s practically perfect.
participant-3927, 8:14 PM, April 25
But to avoid the linguistic closeness to antisemitism, how about pananthemism intead of anthemism ? “Pan-” here would mean a call to all peope of the world to exit their broken countries, like the protagonist of Anthem.
participant-4603, 10:57 PM, April 25
Maybe… But usually with the prefix pan it’s more associated with collectivist movements like pan-africanism or pan-arabism
participant-2236, 11:12 PM, April 25
Maybe just use some other suffix rather than -ism. Or a different structure. “The Anthem X”, where X is “project”, or “movement”, etc.
participant-3927, 1:53 PM, April 27
A common complaint I hear about migration is that the migrants are not integrating into the society they are coming into. Yesterday I heard that in Germany migrants from Middle East mock some beer festival that requires wearing funny clothes. So the argument is that only people who accept the local customs have the right to move to a country. In my case, I guess, it would require for me to like hockey (in Canada) and baseball (in USA). But a free political system should neither prescribe ethics nor aesthetics. As long as I follow the law of the land, I can have any culture I want. Why must one blindly repeat what others did before him? Who says that the beer festival must keep reoccurring year after year? People should be free to change course. In this connection, I invite you to read Ayn Rand’s essay on tradition. It’s in the Virtue of Selfishness collection.
participant-3927, 2:01 PM, April 27
A lot of people accept that the open border in Texas was a problem. Similarly, in Canada, population due to migration increased from 30 million to 40, during Trudeau years. Why is this bad? In my view, unintentionally and by negligence, the Biden/Kamala administration did one good thing in USA: have an accidental open border. So the incompetency of the government actually worked in favour of freedom.
participant-3927, 2:06 PM, April 27
Many people in America are concerned about the rise of China productivity. Doesn’t seem like that’s bad: we should celebrate it. However put this aside, for a moment. If USA wants to match China, it should be happy with the population increase domestically. 340 million is small population. The best country on earth should have 4 billion people, at least. This would neutralize all the evil regimes, for there would be a great exodus to America. I read statistics that it would make USA as dense as UK now.
participant-3927, 2:10 PM, April 27
I would argue that a country that welcomes immigrants will not have an authoritarian crazy guy at the helm, since these are mutually exclusive
participant-3927, 2:11 PM, April 27
And no, I’m not calling for a world government. I’m in favour for other countries to exist, too. So people can always vote with their feet.
participant-3927, 2:12 PM, April 27
But look now: there are a lot of different countries, yet, none has freedom: there is nowhere to run (expect to join the Anthem initiative).
participant-3927, 2:29 PM, April 27
Ayn Rand spoke in favour of hassle free immigration.
participant-3927, 2:30 PM, April 27
Canada is so much about nothing, that the only thing Canadian is to like hockey ?
participant-3927, 2:32 PM, April 27
You are sure, but this assurance is not based on any evidence. To state something like this, you must have evidence. You must be familiar with what Rand or Mises wrote in detail. You aren’t.
participant-3927, 2:32 PM, April 27
Well, it’s time to change it, and move on.
participant-3927, 2:34 PM, April 27
Canada actually has long seized to be a nation of hockey, it’s a multicultural society with Hindu wedding ceremonies in the public parks. I celebrate this.
participant-3927, 2:37 PM, April 27
I wish people so easily given up sovereign land, it would make the anthem initiative easier. But they wouldn’t. They won’t give up a centimeter of land.
participant-3927, 2:38 PM, April 27
I worked with 4 Indian developers in India, and 2 from Pakistan. Good people.
participant-3927, 2:40 PM, April 27
The places are horrible, but that doesn’t translate to all people who live there. Also, those who leave are the better off ones. Same for Russia: the Russians here are better than Russians who remain in Russia.
participant-3927, 2:41 PM, April 27
Then marry a white chick and go watch hockey.
participant-3927, 2:43 PM, April 27
Really? Would you talk to a Russian from Russia about anything of value? They are clueless. A comment from a Russian, under my YouTube debate, said: when you think the world is win-win, you appear naive and immature.
participant-3927, 2:45 PM, April 27
participant-3927, 2:46 PM, April 27
Proof
participant-3927, 2:48 PM, April 27
That these people have no clue. Every westerner know that win-win is the way to go. Russians still live in a dog eat dog mindset. Only those who emigrate are the dynamic and benevolent people.
participant-3927, 2:49 PM, April 27
I fixed my car yesterday in an Iranian owned shop. What a pleasant guy, and did good work too. I wish more like that would be here: Yet, Iranians chant death to America when they are in Iran. How do you explain that?
participant-3927, 2:52 PM, April 27
Movies are way better now than in the 90s. I just watched American Ninja, all 4 of them. Bad production, bad acting, weak story.
participant-3927, 2:54 PM, April 27
I don’t follow. Why the same Iranians who were crazy in Iran, are nice normal people here? I buy pita from a Lebanese Muslim man, whose wife is wearing head scarf. No problems, tasty falafel. Friendly man.
participant-3927, 2:55 PM, April 27
Ironman ?
participant-3927, 2:56 PM, April 27
Sounds like you are supporting my point: when they come here, to freedom, they are good people
participant-3927, 2:56 PM, April 27
Why not ? This is what Americanism is.
participant-3927, 2:57 PM, April 27
No other country produces movies like USA: benevolent, cheerful, not worshipping misery, or tradition
participant-3927, 2:58 PM, April 27
Spider-Man is good too. The cartoon
participant-3927, 3:01 PM, April 27
Did you know that spider man had a Objectivist on the writing team, Steve Ditko, and that’s what made spider man non-nonsense loveable hero ? Then after Ditko left, spider man was made to apologize for his past, through new writing.
participant-3927, 3:07 PM, April 27
Ok, but these things are not mutually exclusive. The Jews in USA are creative benevolent element. Cheerful and positive.
participant-4603, 3:10 PM, April 27
From past traumas? Or is the USA too good to be true? Could be a little of both.
participant-4603, 3:14 PM, April 27
That’s a two-way street. Non-Jews don’t understand us. We also don’t make an effort to present ourselves either.
participant-4603, 3:16 PM, April 27
I don’t mean conspiracy theories. I mean basic questions like who we are and what are our values.
participant-4603, 3:17 PM, April 27
And when that’s not properly addressed what happens is the conspiracies fill in the void or attempt to.
participant-4233, 3:18 PM, April 27
Hey @participant-4603 , ready for the call :)
participant-4233, 3:18 PM, April 27
Haha that’s hilarious
Do they also support Hamas? Just wondering because they were obsessed with the Jewish tunnel back then
participant-4603, 3:25 PM, April 27
I agree to an extent but when they do care they really care and have intense feelings in either direction.
One of the impressions I get is non-Jews think that Jews have constructed a religion that is simply about being anti JC versus pro Torah.
But I get it, no other group that numbers 13 to 20 million gets this kind of attention worldwide.
participant-3927, 5:31 PM, April 27
I heard from older people on HBL that religion was a joke in America in the 20th century, up to Reagan. Reagan was the one who brought it back into the government and into a serious cosideration by intellectuals. So before this time, no intellectual (or even a regular person) thought much about religion.
participant-3927, 5:36 PM, April 27
It’s true that people need something, that you refer to as myth and stories, rather than just learning math and physics, etc. However, it’s not myth and stories that they need, they need
philosophy, Ayn Rand says. It’s just that myths and stories are carriers of a philosophy, a very basic primitive one. Ayn Rand herself wrote novels that communicate (besides the plot) a world of heroes and villains, much like in a saga, but more focused in the form of Romantic-style literature.
participant-3927, 5:40 PM, April 27
Now, about immigration from India, Parkistan, and otherd 3rd world or theocratic regimes: existing countries should welcome them, because these people are seeking freedom from oppression. For starting a new country, the Anthem project, the it is also a necessity: this will be the source of the initial wave of immigrants. No one will come to a new country from 1st world countries.
participant-3927, 6:15 PM, April 27
This means you shouldn’t be against immigration from India, Pakistan, Iran, etc. into Canada and USA.
participant-3927, 6:18 PM, April 27
Ayn Rand on exaltation and worship:
Just as religion has pre-empted the field of ethics, turning morality against man, so it has usurped the highest moral concepts of our language, placing them outside this earth and beyond man’s reach. “Exaltation” is usually taken to mean an emotional state evoked by contemplating the supernatural. “Worship” means the emotional experience of loyalty and dedication to something higher than man. “Reverence” means the emotion of a sacred respect, to be experienced on one’s knees. “Sacred” means superior to and not-to-be-touched-by any concerns of man or of this earth. Etc.
But such concepts do name actual emotions, even though no supernatural dimension exists; and these emotions are experienced as uplifting or ennobling, without the self-abasement required by religious definitions. What, then, is their source or referent in reality? It is the entire emotional realm of man’s dedication to a moral ideal. Yet apart from the man-degrading aspects introduced by religion, that emotional realm is left unidentified, without concepts, words or recognition.
It is this highest level of man’s emotions that has to be redeemed from the murk of mysticism and redirected at its proper object: man.
participant-3927, 6:56 PM, April 27
But the Ottoman Empire was already developed. How many would move as pioneers? For the New Hampshire free state project, about 5,000 people moved in 20 years. For Prospera less than a thousand, I would guess. The only good story is with Freeport, which saw an increase via tourism of huge proportions.
participant-3927, 6:57 PM, April 27
A new country would need immigration at large volumes, at least 100,000 per year, steady, but could be more.
participant-3927, 6:59 PM, April 27
Palestine was another example: immigration came from destitute Jews in Eastern Europe. Early America too: only the poorest classes of European society ventured to move. Neither Australia was built up by the upper classes.
participant-3927, 7:01 PM, April 27
I say: let’s use the opportunity of availability of migrants from bad countries.
